


Teach a man to read...

by MudkipBrony



Series: Persona Western AU [1]
Category: Persona 2, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, Bandits & Outlaws, Headcanon, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:21:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27141019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MudkipBrony/pseuds/MudkipBrony
Summary: It's difficult looking out for your outlaw brother when you're the lawman, but Katsuya Suou does his best to make it work. Every few years he drops in to see his brother and the gang. But on this visit, he sees something that might make him stay.
Relationships: Kitagawa Yusuke & Sakura Futaba, Serizawa Ulala/Suou Katsuya, Suou Katsuya & Suou Tatsuya
Series: Persona Western AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981138
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Teach a man to read...

"I'm not going back."

Every few years it's always the same conversation. Katsuya tries to convince his brother to come back to the city and every time he says no. It's almost like an old hat. For Katsuya, it has been almost twenty years since he has done anything remotely outlaw related. Even if this is the life Tatsuya chose and even if he is still alive to be having this pointless conversation, Katsuya still worries.

He doesn't even bother to sigh or shake his head, after the first dozen times he would get major déjà vu. "Alright, I'll be off. Tell Jun and Maya I said hello." He said. The sentence almost lost its meaning since he's repeated it so many times.

Leaving his brother's tent and stepping into the sunlight Katsuya makes his way towards the horses hitched southwest of the camp. But he doesn't even make five steps before he hears, "Well if it isn't Big Suou."

The voice comes from behind him and he already knows who it is. He smiles for a second before smothering it, he won't encourage her. He won't encourage this. "Ulala."

When he turns he's greeted with something getting shoved in his face. "Katsuya." The voice responds.

He grabs whatever was being held up to his face and is now able to look Ulala in the eye. It's been a while since they last met in person. And even longer since they've spoken to one another. She wrote to him often, telling him what the gang was up to and where their new camp was. He always burned the letters afterward no matter how much he wanted to keep them, he couldn't risk anyone knowing he was helping criminals after all. Katsuya looks in his hand. "Salted meat I'm assuming?"

Ulala shrugged, she was wearing a green dress although it wasn't the one she usually wore. "Some of the rookies killed a bison. I thought you should have some before it gets rotten."

"Thank you." Was all he could manage to get out. He feared where this conversation could lead, with Ulala you never know.

Katsuya continued walking back to the horses so he could at least store the meat. He hoped Ulala would go back to minding her own business or do whatever chores the gang made her do. But to his chagrin, she followed and caught him up in what really could've been written in a letter. She mentioned the Phantom Thieves of Hearts which were a part of the gang now, which meant he had yet more people to cover for. She went on about some of the older members and the new ones, reminiscing about bar fights or robberies going well. Most things he wasn't even there for.

For most of Ulala's gossiping, he was just brushing his horse Hyperion. When he was younger, and still in the gang, he had another horse Helios. Helios died during a shootout in the city and for a while, Katsuya took the tram everywhere refusing to get a new horse. At least until Ulala heard the news and sent him some money to buy a new one. He should've sent the money back, and he would've... if he could.

"I missed you."

The three words Katsuya prayed wouldn't come out of Ulala's lips. This was the one conversation he didn't want to have. And it's not that he didn't want to talk about it, that was half the reason, it was that he knew she would leave the gang for him if he wasn't careful with his words. As much as that thought secretly delighted him, he felt guilty nonetheless.

They stand in silence with Katsuya not knowing what to say to her. Maybe it was time to-

"GOD DAMN IT INARI!"

Inari?

"Those two are always going off about something." Ulala looked over her shoulder in the direction of the yelling then back to Katsuya.

"Let's continue this conversation another time."

Ulala just nodded and went off back to camp walking the opposite direction of where the yelling came from. Katsuya should've left, Hyperion was right there ready to leave. He already did everything he needed to do.

Yet not knowing quite why Katsuya followed the sounds of arguing. He found two people sitting next to each other on a log, a big blue-haired boy and a petite girl with long orange hair. He was a little surprised to find that most of the noise was coming from the petite girl.

"What does that say Inari!"

"R... ri... re... Hm, this one is difficult."

"You have to be messing with me right? Even you aren't that dumb."

"It's a difficult word Futaba."

"Do it again!"

"I have no interest in-"

"Do it!"

The boy sighed. "R... rrr... rifle? Rifle."

Katsuya walked around the log and saw the girl hunched over putting her head in her hands. The boy looked up at him, for a second he didn't say anything just closing a book he held in his hands. "Can I help you?"

The girl stiffened and was staring at him between her fingers. Were these some of the Phantom Thieves Ulala was telling him about? He wasn't sure. "Are you the Phantom Thieves?"

The boy abruptly stood, dropping the book. "How did you find us?" He demanded.

"I'm one of your leader's brothers. I was just leaving when I heard you arguing."

Before the boy could reach for his gun the girl stood up, her whole demeanor changing. "You look like Tatsuya."

"I... Yes, he's my brother. I'm-"

"Katsuya Suou? Serizawa-san mentions you a lot." Said the boy.

He wasn't surprised, he wouldn't be surprised if Maya talked about him a lot either. But the boy introduced himself as Yusuke Kitagawa and said the girl was Futaba Sakura. Katsuya could have sworn that name sounded familiar, but where had he heard it?

Futaba meanwhile was skimming through the book Yusuke dropped. "Stupid Inari, having to teach you how to read," she muttered. Katsuya saw the pages briefly, each page had one to two words on it and they were written so big they'd take up most of the page. 

"Forgive me if I'm not learning fast enough Futaba." Yusuke turned his attention back to Futaba as if Katsuya wasn't even there.

"It's fine," she sighed, "I guess I'll just read to you until I die."

Not wanting to pry on something that doesn't concern him Katsuya was ready to take his leave when Futaba caught his attention with a tiny leap. She pointed at him, "You! You teach him!"

"Why me?"

"Please? I'm desperate! Teach a man to fish or whatever."

He could have said no and left, to go home and see if he had any cases he needed to give his attention to. But he held out his hand and the teenage girl gave Katsuya the book. He gave it a skim, it was mostly single words. Like 'outlaw' 'rifle' and 'money', he skimmed further into the book where there were bigger words and short sentences.

Katsuya took a seat on the log as Yusuke was dragged back into his seat by Futaba. He placed the book in the young man's lap and flipped to an empty page in the back. Taking out a pencil from his pocket he held it out to Yusuke. "Can you write?"

Taking the pencil Yusuke wrote down something on the blank page. 'Kitagawa Yusuke'. Well, it was a start and the penmanship was nice and neat. The boy looked at him, then at Futaba who was sitting to his other side, then back to Katsuya.

"Alright, how about something that isn't your name?"

With a huff, Yusuke moved to the next page. The change in penmanship was so drastic it could not have been written by the same person if Katsuya were not here to witness it. Yusuke wrote down colors: 'Red' 'Blue' and 'Yellow'. But that was all he could write before he ran out of space. It looked like a toddler wrote it.

"It's a start. Here, go back a couple of pages. Did Sakura-chan teach you how to pronounce letters? Nevermind, try reading this word."

This time it seemed Katsuya had a reason to stay.

**Author's Note:**

> Tips, constructive criticism, and advice are always appreciated!


End file.
